Feb. 21--WGN-Ch. 9 announced its 2015 schedule for the Chicago Cubs on Friday, the 68th consecutive season for the broadcast partnership after a long offseason of negotiations.
The Tribune Media station will produce 48 Cubs baseball telecasts, including three preseason and 40 regular-season games to air on WGN-TV. Five games will air on Fox-owned WPWR-Ch. 50, a new home for games that can't run on WGN because of programming conflicts.
Last year, overflow games aired on Weigel Broadcasting's WCIU-Ch. 26. No Cubs games will air on WGN America, which is converting from a superstation to a national cable channel.
Len Kasper returns for his 11th season in the Cubs' television booth. His broadcast partner will be Jim Deshaies, who is back for his third season.
Highlights of this year's schedule include an early season matchup against the defending N.L. Central champion St. Louis Cardinals and two August games against the defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants.
The bulk of the schedule for the Cubs will be on Comcast SportsNet Chicago, a regional sports network in which the team has an ownership stake.
The Cubs opted out of a longer-term agreement with WGN-Ch. 9 after last season, freeing up about 70 games per year and potentially ending a relationship that dates back to 1948. The new agreement reduced the number of games to 45 per season for five years.
In December, the Cubs announced a five-year deal to broadcast 25 games per season on ABC-owned WLS-Ch. 7.
The station will actually air 24 games this season, with increased interest in the Cubs moving additional broadcasts to national TV, including opening day April 5 against the Cardinals on ESPN2.
ABC 7 will air mostly afternoon and weekend games, to avoid disruption of its busy network primetime schedule. But the station will feature several high-profile night broadcasts, including a June 26 matchup against the Cardinals and an Aug. 15 Crosstown Classic game with the White Sox.
Most of the weekday broadcasts will displace a block of programming including "General Hospital," "Inside Edition" and "Jeopardy!" before joining the ABC 7 news at 4 p.m. Fans of those shows will likely be able to watch or record them at alternative times, according to John Idler, president and general manager of ABC 7.
"All of the programming will be available on our air, but at different times of the day," Idler said.
rchannick@tribpub.com
